Return dsl customer with poor performance

[Chatreux3]

I have been a Verizon Dsl customer for over 3 years,  When I initially got DSL I had some speed issues and they were resolved.  I recently discontinued my dsl service to switch to a cable company  that just ran lines in my area as I could use the extra speed.  Unfortunately I discontinued there service after only 2 month due to them capping my 10 meg line at 40gigs a month download without informing me before getting there service.  Anyway I was looking forward to getting my3 meg  Dsl back as it has always been reliable and ran solid at 2.8 meg.  I was in for a big surprise as my dsl preformance has been very frustrating since getting it again.  I get wildly fluctuating downloads speed and only rarely spike to what I get in the past.  My upload speeds are always very good though.   When using a speed test you will see the needle on the speed guage jump up and down eractially.  My normal speed test results always very considerably with most fluctualting between .7meg to 1.5 meg.  On the best server ans believe me I tried alot I can spike around 2.5 meg but that is a very short spike.  Most the the time I download I get around 140-180kbps.  When I had dsl before I always got 340-360kbps.  I would like to give alittle information about my computer experience.  I have been troubleshooting, building and repairing computers since my old Atari 130XE computer.  I have contacted verizon several times about my issues.  I even had a tech come to my house.  I have always been told it is my pc because  my line is good.  I know for a fact it not my pc as I have done everying and then some to eliminate it as a problem.  Firstly it is not my homes wireing as I have even run a line directly from my service box.  I tried using  the dsl modem I had from my prior 3 years of happy dsl service.  I have bought a high quality ethernet card as I thought there might be the slight possibility my motherboards ethernet was acting up.  I have completely replaced all my phone and ethernet cables.  I even completely formated my harddrives.  I also used several other computers on this internet with the same results.  I am not happy as I feel i am getting the runaround.  My internet performance is not even close to what is was from my previous 3 years of verizon dsl.  I don't know if im on a congested verizon server or what the problem may be.  I do know the issues im having can be fixed as my past 3 years of dsl performance were always solid.  I am really hoping someone can help me here as phone calls seem to do little to help.

[jmw1950]

The first thing you need to do is to log into the modem/router and look at the transceiver information which gives the line losses in both directions, margins and transmit powers. That will provide a lot of useful information about what is happening and is the first step. That will tell you what data rate the modem has been able to negotiate with the Central Office. IF the data rate isn't good, or the margins are low, or the losses are very high, it is probably a line issue either inside or outside the house. That might be a simple as a missing filter on a telephone, or a more complex issue elsewhere. IF the data rates are good, then the issue is either the modem/router, or your PC.Either the way, the first step is to identify where the problem is.

[Chatreux3]

My line stats have always been good.

DSL Speed Down 3360   UP 864

Margin db                24.1        15.0

line attn                   28.2         12.0

trans                         6.9          11.9

I remember 3+ years ago when I first got installed I had speed issues and they must have fixed it on there end.  Now after dropping there service for a couple months and getting the same dsl again I have speed issues.  Nothing on my end has changed as I said I even tried my old modem and other computers with the same results.  Most times I download it is at a slow speed that fluctuates.  Surprisingly there are times I get good downloads speeds from certain web sites that are fairly constant and close to what I use to get from my previous dsl install.  Could it be as simple as being on a line that is to congested?

[jmw1950]

The link between your home and the Central office is dead on specification for 3mb/768kb service. That means the problem is either upstream of the Central office, or downstream from the modem, such as a firewall on your PC.

The next step is probably to run a trace route on one or more of the sites that the performance is poor, and see where the long delays are.

Other steps involve running Verizon's HIgh speed internet optimizer, making sure your firewall is properly configured, and there are no viruses.

I also suggest rebooting the modem/router about once a month unless something else has done it for you (like a power failure). Routers are infinite loops, only there is no such thing as perfect software and/or firmware, so over time things like NAT entries, and buffer space tends to get lost. Rebooting the router recovers these lost resources.

[Chatreux3]

surfing doesn't seem to bad speed wise just downloads, streaming, any kind of continuous bandwidth.  I have done a bunch of trace routes and don't know how they should look.

1 0.821 ms 0.930 ms 0.868 ms 63.231.252.78   United States, Minneapolis 45�02'03" N 93�24'50" W 10.72 km 2 43.740 ms 47.836 ms 45.154 ms 207.225.140.209 mpls-dsl-gw17-209.mpls.qwest.net United States, Denver 39�75'25" N 104�99'95" W 1138.00 km 3 43.809 ms 44.678 ms 44.199 ms 65.103.30.129 mpls-agw1.inet.qwest.net United States, - 38�00'00" N 97�00'00" W 850.05 km 4 55.191 ms 91.551 ms 74.665 ms 67.14.8.194 chp-brdr-03.inet.qwest.net United States, - 38�00'00" N 97�00'00" W 850.05 km 5 53.705 ms 85.391 ms 64.582 ms 63.146.27.22 63.146.27.22 United States, - 38�00'00" N 97�00'00" W 850.05 km 6 54.287 ms 55.006 ms 54.611 ms 4.68.101.158 ae-31-55.ebr1.Chicago1.Level3.net United States, - 38�00'00" N 97�00'00" W 850.05 km 7 55.244 ms 56.187 ms 55.651 ms 4.69.140.190 ae-6.ebr1.Chicago2.Level3.net United States, - 38�00'00" N 97�00'00" W 850.05 km 8 74.305 ms 87.289 ms 78.668 ms 4.69.132.61 ae-3.ebr2.Denver1.Level3.net United States, - 38�00'00" N 97�00'00" W 850.05 km 9 109.942 ms 121.200 ms 113.741 ms 4.69.132.53 ae-2.ebr2.Seattle1.Level3.net United States, - 38�00'00" N 97�00'00" W 850.05 km 10 109.857 ms 110.884 ms 110.243 ms 4.68.105.34 ae-21-52.car1.Seattle1.Level3.net United States, - 38�00'00" N 97�00'00" W 850.05 km 11 102.074 ms 140.940 ms 115.166 ms 4.79.104.74 GOOGLE-INC.car1.Seattle1.Level3.net United States, - 38�00'00" N 97�00'00" W 850.05 km 12 101.927 ms 102.722 ms 102.445 ms 209.85.249.34 209.85.249.34 United States, Mountain View 37�41'92" N 122�05'74" W 2546.96 km 13 106.455 ms 128.956 ms 114.176 ms 209.85.250.126 209.85.250.126 United States, Mountain View 37�41'92" N 122�05'74" W 2546.96 km 14 106.880 ms 134.178 ms 116.721 ms 209.85.250.144 209.85.250.144 United States, Mountain View 37�41'92" N 122�05'74" W 2546.96 km 15 108.093 ms 111.303 ms 109.365 ms 64.233.174.101 64.233.174.101 United States, Mountain View 37�41'92" N 122�05'74" W 2546.96 km 16 108.362 ms 116.450 ms 113.140 ms 216.239.46.22 216.239.46.22 United States, Mountain View 37�39'74" N 122�07'32" W 2549.35 km 17 107.868 ms 145.777 ms 120.625 ms 74.125.127.100 pz-in-f100.google.com

this is a trace route of google.

[Chatreux3]

Performing traceroute to google.com

<script></script>   Host 16 Loss% Last Avg Best Wrst Stdev   1 0.0% 0.9 0.9 0.7 1.1 0.1 br01a.eqnxscs.fluidhosting.net 0.0% 2 0.0% 0.8 0.8 0.6 1.4 0.2 core2.te6-2-bbnet2.nym007.pnap.net 0.0% 3 0.0% 2.1 5.3 1.9 52.1 12.5 cr1.n54ny.ip.att.net 0.0% 4 0.0% 71.2 71.3 70.4 76.5 1.4 cr2.st6wa.ip.att.net 0.0% 5 0.0% 69.4 69.7 69.2 73.6 1.1 12.89.209.14 0.0% 6 0.0% 82.7 87.0 82.6 130.9 12.6 72.14.239.12 0.0% 7 0.0% 85.4 93.7 85.3 127.9 16.7 216.239.48.143 0.0% 8 0.0% 85.7 89.8 85.2 97.8 4.8 pz-in-f100.google.com 6.2%
Summary: Packets travelled through 8 hops. A 2.1 packet loss was experienced starting at hop 3 (0.0%).
Time taken to perform traceroute: 17.2757 seconds

[jmw1950]

You are taking a 'beating' in a couple places according to the traceroute.

The first is in :

mpls-dsl-gw17-209.mpls.qwest.net

That is taking 44-48ms, and it should be on the order of 20ms. So there is either a hardware problem or a capacity issue at the DSL gateway you are using.

That is an issue to take up with technical support. This raises another issue.

Why is a Verizon customer being routed through non-verizon nodes initially?

Is your DSL service really through Verizon, because it looks to me like it is with Qwest.

[Chatreux3]

I talked with one of the verizon techs online to make it about the 4th time I tried complaing about my problems.  I tried explaining its not my computer and everything has been tried already.  He still insisted to access my pc and delete cookies etc.  He then ran a test at speedtest.net and got around 2000kbps with the meter jumping around.  He then insisted my speed was good and nothing was wrong.   I said no, I do have a problem run it again and look how it fluctuates.  He then ran the test again and I got 1350kbps.  He then gave me the same old 800 number I know to well.  I called and after about 45 min of waiting I finally got to speak to a supervisor.  I explained everything to him that I stated in my first post here.  He asked me to hold again.  He then told me my line looked good and it was my pc causing the problems.  I was then upset as I explained to him how it can't be my computer and i have tried other computers and they have the same results.  He then said {edited for privacy}I will send a tech to your house tomorrow.   Anyway I now have a tech comming over tomorrow.  This will be the second time a tech has been here.  I am now just trying to figure out what to say and really get my problem fixed.  I do want to thank you as im glad you are helping me out and im not just wasting my time typing this.  Hopefully tomorrow I can really get things fixed as I hate to take another day off from work for this.

[Chatreux3]

I get a call from verizon today at 9am and the lady asked me about my dsl problems.  I explained my problems and suggested could I possibly be on a congested router?  She said she would see if they could change my router and then call me back.  I then get a call about 10:30am and was asked what my router was doing.  I said it did have a red light earlier and that the data light is currently blinking.  She then told me she will send a tech to my house today by 5pm.  A couple hours later I get a call saying a tech will arrive before 6pm.  It was around 4:30pm when I got a call from verizon saying they won't make it to my home today.  I told her I had taking the day off to be here today and it was the second time im doing so for the same problem.  She asked me if a tech could come tomorrow I told her no as I can't use any more sick days.  She said I could send someone out Sat and I said ok.  What upsets me is when I spoke to the verizon supervisor yesterday he said the tech's don't come out on Sat's.  Anyway whatever verizon did today to my dsl it didn't improve it if anything got worse.  I will post a graph of a download to show the eratic speed I get.

[Chatreux3]

This is 17 seconds of a typical download from a fast server.

Date               Sec's                Down              UP

09/22/2009   16:00:44           294.2K           5.7K        
09/22/2009   16:00:45           254.4K           5.4K        
09/22/2009   16:00:46           344.3K           6.8K        
09/22/2009   16:00:47           178.1K           3.7K        
09/22/2009   16:00:48           354.5K           6.9K        
09/22/2009   16:00:49            60.8K           1.2K         
09/22/2009   16:00:50           332.4K           6.5K        
09/22/2009   16:00:51             7.7K           1.0K          
09/22/2009   16:00:52            26.5K            778         
09/22/2009   16:00:53           172.1K           3.3K        
09/22/2009   16:00:54             8.9K            400          
09/22/2009   16:00:55           181.0K           3.5K        
09/22/2009   16:00:56            11.8K            404         
09/22/2009   16:00:57           189.8K           3.8K        
09/22/2009   16:00:58             8.9K            458          
09/22/2009   16:00:59           181.0K           3.4K        
09/22/2009   16:01:00             7.4K            330          
09/22/2009   16:01:01             8.9K            384